Fig. 2: Spectral signatures of circularly polarized waves.
From: Mediation of collisionless turbulent dissipation through cyclotron resonance
a, Turbulent spectra from intervals with 15° < θBV < 25° normalized to the power at kcdi = 0.35. Spectra are colour-coded by the difference in energy \({\tilde{E}}_\mathrm{TK}\) defined between kcdi and kdi = 10. Darker colours indicate a greater drop in power. b, Moving window spectral index for the 150 spectra. A break is observed near kcdi, which corresponds to the onset of circularly polarized power. Recovery to a power-law scaling of approximately −8/3 is recovered at sub-ion scales. Mean values of α in the inertial and kinetic ranges are shown as black horizontal lines. c, Circularly polarized power in left-handed modes normalized to the total power. d, Circularly polarized power in right-handed modes normalized to the total power.
